Mad Cave Studios to Collect the Defenders of the Earth Comic Series into a TPB

Ignite your Jets... Summon the Strength of Ten Tigers... Gesture Hypnotically... Flex your Power... Because the Defenders of the Earth are returning to bookshelves in 2024!

Independent publisher, Mad Cave Studios, who acquired the license for Flash Gordon in July 2023, are collecting the 1987 Marvel / Star Comics' 4-part Defenders of the Earth series into one collected volume.

This will be the first time that all four comics will be collected together. It will be distributed through Simon and Schuster who state,

"Sci-fi legend Flash Gordon must team-up with the Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, and the super strong Lothar to defend planet Earth against the dark forces of Ming the Merciless. Luckily, they'll get some help from the next generation of heroes, their children!"

The book is advertised as being 96 pages long, which allows for speculation into what else may be included within the covers.

Alex Saviuk has stated that he still has the original unpublished art of Issue #5 (some images of which are available for viewing by our Patreons on the Phantom Preservation Project). Including issue #5 would be a boon for Mad Cave and DotE fans alike!

There is some conjecture as to the release date of the TPB with Simon and Schuster stating August 14, 2024 but Booktopia has it listed for 4th June. Needless to say we should be expecting the book to hit retailers sometime mid-year.

With the success of the recent Defenders of the Earth NECA toys (our review) and Monogram International keyrings (our review), it is only fitting that we see an international TPB release of the original comic. Fingers crossed that this leads to more Defenders of the Earth media and merchandise, could a TV show or movie be in the near future too?